BIOGRAPHY
Jeffery Phillip Wiedlandt (Born January 14, 1967 in Bayonne, New Jersey), better known as Zakk Wylde, is lead guitarist in Black Label Society, a frequent mainstay of the Ozzfest tour. Known for his unique guitar skills and style, Wylde has been voted "Most Valuable Player" for three consecutive years in the Guitar World magazine polls. In 2005, he was also voted "Best Metal Guitarist", "Number 1 Shredder" and received the Metal Hammer (UK magazine) "Riff Lord" and "Golden God" awards.
Wylde and his wife, Barbaranne, have 3 children and live outside of Los Angeles. He was a close friend of the deceased Dimebag Darrell since 1993, exchanging guitars in admiration for one another as fellow guitarists. Wylde had given Dimebag one of his custom Gibson guitars with the trademark "bulls-eye" design on it shortly before the guitarist's untimely death. Wylde dedicated the song "In This River" to Dimebag, citing that although the song wasn't originally written for him, the lyrics were fitting to the situation. He dedicates each live performance of the song to Dimebag.
Wylde has done numerous "guest" appearances on many albums, such as the début album for Damageplan as guest vocalist and guest lead guitar on tracks "Soul Bleed" and "Reborn", as well as Derek Sherinian's solo albums "Inertia", "Black Utopia", "Mythology" and "Blood of the Snake" alongside Yngwie Malmsteen, among others.
Wylde's film credits include Rock Star (As "Ghode", guitarist of the ficticious band Steel Dragon) and the concert DVD Boozed, Broozed, and Broken-Boned (Certified Platinum), recorded at Harpo's in Detroit, MI. It was the first time in the concert hall's history that all of the alcohol had been consumed on one night (Wylde's favorite beer is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale). He has also done a comedy skit show alongside Jim Breuer, titled "Crapshoot", which is now available on DVD.
Zakk Wylde also appeared on the tv show Angel in the season 4 episode "Magic Bullet" where he plays acoustic on the song "Mandy" while Angel and Conner sing along.
Wylde has also appeared as a guest star on the TV show Aqua Teen Hunger Force. He is a New York Yankees and New York Giants fan. He also performed the National Anthem on the electric guitar during a Los Angeles Kings game in October 2005.
- In the December of 2005, a promotional offer was posted on ZakkWylde.com, stating that anyone who bought a $100 merchandise gift certificate and a miniature model of a chopper would receive a $800 Epiphone guitar. The offer was posted by guitar company 357 Customs, thru webmaster Chad Dyer.
- On June 2, 2006, Bob Ringe, Zakk Wylde's manager, stated on the website that "357 Customs ran a promotion directed toward Zakk's fans, and [...] 357 has not delivered merchandise ordered during the promotion. Zakk has not authorized or otherwise been involved with this promotion, and has not received any compensation from it." Ringe went on further to state that he has instructed his lawyers to "contact 357....monitor this situation and follow up with 357." - - One week later, on June 9, 2006, Zakk Wylde corroborated Ringe's statement and the involvement of his lawyers in "address[ing] the situation." On June 14th, 2006, Zakk Wylde's attorneys filed suit against 357 Customs Inc. in the Superior Court of the State of California. The suit alleges trademark infringement, false designation of origin, unfair competition, false advertising, breach of contract, as well as several other counts. The text of the lawsuit indicates that it was brought about to prevent any preying upon of Zakk's loyal fans in the future and to recoup unpaid royalties as 357 Customs failed to deliver on its agreements with Zakk Wylde. There is nothing in the suit thus far to indicate any kind of specific damages to be recovered on behalf of fans who have not received their merchandise other than as-yet unspecified damages pertaining to this suit. Text of Lawsuit - - On July 5, 2006, webmaster Chad Dyer was asked to resign from the website. He admitted being hired (but not paid) by 357 Customs to maintain ZakkWylde.com and claimed that he wasn't aware of the conflict of interest.
